Pain of Healing
by XEri-chanX
Summary: Mew Kururugi, Akatsuki member, S-Rank criminal, gambler. She gets in too deep with a gambling circuit with Kakuzu's money and returns to the base injured, but with income. So why is her friend Kakuzu so mad at her? Because she took his money without asking? Surprisingly that's not the case. Kakuzu/OC oneshot. T for language


**This is a one-shot I made for a user on Quizilla. I've opened one-shot trades, so message me or review here if you're interested. Hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the universe or characters of Naruto, or Mew Kururugi, she belongs to Yurenxtsubaki78 on Quizilla. I do, unfortunately, own the random dude (asshole) from the bar.**

* * *

The crack of her hands against the table echoed through the bar, the scraping of her chair against the floor making the men surrounding her cringe. Cards scattered from the table to the ground, as if eager to get away from the raging female.

"Alright, you damn cretin, give me my prize money!" She yelled angrily.

The man across the table from her showed no reaction to her outburst. He kicked his feet back, his hands behind his head, a cigarette hanging loosely from his lips. He smirked, "What prize money? You haven't won anything, darlin', and the last time I checked, you had to win somethin' in order to gain a prize." He drawled, smoke curling up defiantly from the cigarette.

The brunette woman snarled, her brown eyes flashing dangerously, "I _did_ win. I beat you fair and square!" She protested, her voice a low growl.

The man shrugged his shoulders, gesturing at his hand of cards still miraculously splayed across the table, "I believe _I_ won, darlin'." He snickered.

The female's eyes widened, he'd changed his cards, the brute!

"You _cheat_!" She lurched forwards, but was caught under her arms by someone behind her. She threw her head back, grinning when her head come into contact with the attacker's nose and it gave out a satisfying snap. She lunged again, only to be scooped up by two men this time, one on each arm. They bent her shoulders back and with a yelp of pain, she was rendered immobile.

The man across the table simply smiled, taking a long drag from his cigarette. She struggled, but ceased when his voice cut through her conflict. "But I'm pretty sure you're worth much more than any prize this crummy old bar can offer." He kicked up from his chair and lumbered over to the woman. She glared icily at him, trying to flinch away when he leaned down to her ear, "I bet you are, aren't you? Mew Kururugi."

Mew froze in her captive state, her eyes wide. How did he know?

"Oh, come _on_!" He exclaimed on seeing her expression, moving away from her, swiping his cigarette from his lips and gesturing around the tavern wildly, "If you're going to waltz into a bar and gamble as good as you did, without even bothering to remove your Akatsuki ring, you seriously think somebody isn't going to recognise you?" He eyed her hand almost appreciatively, "But that is a _fancy_ ring...Boys, put her hand on the table." He cackled. With little struggle, Mew's right ringed hand was placed firmly onto the table, palm down. She was curious as to what he would do next, but a lump stayed lodged in her throat.

He admired the shine of the jewellery before he looked at her, "Can I have it?" Mew looked at the guy like he was odd. Was there something wrong with him? She didn't answer, and he growled at her, grasping her jaw painfully in his hand as he turned her to look at him. With his other hand, he stabbed the still lit cigarette into the soft flesh of her hand, rubbing it in. She gasped at the sudden burning, her eyes tearing. "Answer me please, Mew-_chan_, I don't like it when a woman leaves me hangi-" She spit in his face suddenly, and he reeled back, wiping at his eyes and spluttering. He recovered quickly, stepping up to her and slapping her across the face with a sharp flick of his wrist. She gritted her teeth through the sting, then smirked as she let her head hang limp. He let out a bark of laughter and turned away from her, snickering and bending over as he laughed.

"Why you stupid, little bi-" The man turned back around, and was shocked into silence. Everyone in the bar were on the ground unconscious, the two men restraining the criminal ninja, dead. He moved swiftly around the table, checking to see if it was still there, it _had_ to be!

It wasn't.

"You _BITCH!_"

* * *

Mew patted the bag of coins strapped to her side admiringly. Boy, Kakuzu would be proud of her for this one. The money jingled melodiously as she leaped across rooftops and into a forest, gently giggling to herself at the yell the man had let out seconds after she left. He had underestimated her, greatly. People who did that usually died, gruesomely. Have you ever wondered what would happen if your blood, or perhaps your internal organs decided to suddenly defy gravity? If that guy knew that much about her, he probably did.

Mew Kururugi specialised in gravity and earth based jutsus, and she was especially experimental. At least, that's what her numerous criminal records have to say for her. Herself? Well, she was just in it for the money. But she didn't have the time, and he was far too amusing to kill, as much as she hated idiots.

The clearing of the forest that belonged to the current Akatsuki hideout loomed into view, and Mew gracefully leapt down to the ground, rolling and coming up onto her feet.

She strolled over to the boulder that was the front door and waved her ring in front of it, furrowing her brows at the ugly burn wound there. It was still stinging and throbbing; he'd pushed it into her skin hard. The boulder moved aside with a groan, and Mew stumbled inside as her chest gave a sudden heave. She leaned against the cool rock wall as her body hacked away at air, clouds of dust fogging up in front of her as she coughed. With a sickening splat, a crimson streak landed on the floor. Her coughing ceased.

After taking a few laboured breaths, she straightened up and went to step forward, only to stumble as her legs suddenly gave out. An arm looped around her shoulders before she hit the ground however, and she smiled at the familiar tanned skin littered with stitching.

"Hi, Kakuzu. Nice day for a walk, huh?" She rasped. She was lifted to her feet and supported as the duo hobbled along the rocky corridor. She was ignored, and she knew she was in trouble.

Eventually they managed to reach the main part of the hideout, and instead of guiding Mew to her room like she expected, Kakuzu pulled her to his, and threw her onto a chair in there, slamming to door shut behind him before anyone saw. Then he turned, and just stared at her, his green eyes boring into her face, which was now burning from embarrassment and shame. She didn't notice his eyes ghost over the pale bruise forming on her cheek. Instead she favoured her right hand out of sight; it was aching loudly, demanding attention.

The room was silent for a few minutes, and it took a few seconds for Mew to realise that Kakuzu had spoken. "Why did you do it?" His voice was low, calm, but Mew could sense the anger behind it.

"I-"She began.

"Why did you take my money like that?" He expanded, not giving her chance to answer the first question. She trembled slightly, rage rolling off Kakuzu in waves. But he was eerily silent. She couldn't tell what sort of expression he was making, his mask was drawn up; but his eyes showed enough so that Mew knew it couldn't be good.

"T-There was a gambling circuit that landed in the village close to us, and I knew some of the boys, I'd beaten them before. I didn't have any money of my own so I-"

"You took mine? Without asking? And you went out with it? Without _me_?" He cut her off again. Mew didn't answer. It was true she hadn't asked him, but she wasn't short of her own money at all. She thought she would take his money and come back with it tripled, to see if she could make him smile; make him happy. She would never tell him that, of course.

Eventually she knew she had to answer, "Yes, but I managed to bring triple the amount back, and I was going to give it back to you anyway!" With her injured hand, she unhooked the bountiful pouch from her hip and held it out to him.

"Never do that again, you understand me?" His voice was cold but quiet, and Mew felt her heart plummet. He muttered something else, but she didn't catch it, and something told her that he wasn't going to repeat himself. They had been friends for 8 years, and never had he been hostile to her like this. Then again, she had never tampered with his money before either. She gulped as he stalked towards her and snatched the money bag out of her hand. Her hand burned as he caught the wound and she recoiled, whimpering in shock.

Kakuzu's eyes widened fractionally, and he tossed the bag to the bed; forgotten. He strode over to her once again and knelt next to her gently. "You're injured. Show me."

When she had keeled up upon entering the hideout minutes earlier he was shocked enough to see her coughing up blood. He had never seen that before, and it made him wonder; How long had she been having those fits? Were they endangering her life? Why didn't she tell him? That was what had pissed him off the most, not that she had taken off with his money, but the fact that she seemed seriously ill and hadn't told him about it, after their 8 years of companionship, and that one enjoyable mishap on a mission one year ago. But now, knowing she was also injured elsewhere, it drove him nearly mad.  
When Mew didn't comply, Kakuzu grasped her injured hand and turned it palm down. The burn on the back of her hand was large, puckered and red raw, just waiting for an infection to grow within. Kakuzu recognized it as a cigarette burn, and not an accidental one.

"Who did this? Is he dead?" He hissed, unable to hide the malice in his voice. When Mew shook her head negatively he almost roared in anger. How dare someone hurt Mew? His Mew! He'd kill the bastard where he stood! But first, he had to help Mew. That was his priority; it was always his priority.  
Mew noticed the anger in Kakuzu's eyes, and thanked Kami that it wasn't directed at herself. She couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking of. She didn't get to for long, however, as he was on his feet and rummaging around his room for a few minutes. She remained awkwardly in the chair, weakened from her earlier coughing fit.

After a while, he was at her side again, a familiar looking pot in his hand. Mew smiled slightly, almost laughing. "Hey, isn't that the salve that old lady gave us that time?"

Because of their experience with money, a year ago the two had been sent on a mission together to a village Mew never cared to remember the name of. She couldn't remember what the mission entailed either; she never normally did. She did remember a poor unsuspecting old lady handing them this pot of healing salve when she saw Kakuzu injured; though they were both in disguise, of course. She hadn't charged them, only warned them that it was extremely potent and effective. Mew couldn't remember what the lady looked like, or her name, if she had even given it.

She remembered tending Kakuzu's wounds, and she remembered that the mission had gone terribly wrong, endangering their lives. She remembered him shoving the salve away from himself and forcing her to use if on herself instead. She remembered that she wasn't as badly injured as Kakuzu, but he had argued that she only had one heart. Even so, she used it on him, and she could remember his strangled yells as the salve did it's magic. At the time she knew she needed to quiet him, else they attract unwanted attention to themselves, so she did the only thing she could think of.

She kissed him.

It seemed to work; and reduced the pain at the same time. He had calmed substantially when she did it, and had kissed her back for a few seconds before he passed out from the pain.

That was the night she had began to like him as more than a friend. That was the night she had finally fallen in love with him, though she knew he was currently on track to live forever, and she...not so much. She had hacked and coughed and spat up blood at closer intervals after that mission; she knew she didn't have long left at all. Everyone else were none the wiser. Kakuzu didn't seem to remember the kiss after that night.

The sudden sting from the salve brought Mew back to reality and she moaned in agony, tightening her left hand around Kakuzu's and jumping at the suddenness. She was too much in pain to realise she was holding Kakuzu's hand.

His gaze rested upon Mew's pained face, following a crystal tear as it seeped from her eye and trailed down her soft cheek. He fought the impulse to lick at it, and shook his head, ridiculing himself.

"Mew, I need to put more on." He murmured, his thumb rubbing soft circles into her hand without him really noticing, coaxing her to relinquish her white-knuckled grasp on his hand.

"Please don't." She whimpered, eyeing him sorrowfully. His eyes narrowed slightly.

"I have to, or you'll lose your hand!" He scolded her.

She drew in a shaky breath, and nodded as she exhaled, closing her eyes in an anticipating grimace. He squeezed her hand reassuringly, and dumped the salve onto the burn.

She screeched this time; the pain was unbearable. She wanted to scrape the salve off, tear her skin off, rip her hand off if it'd make it stop. Her brown eyes snapped open, glazed with pain, and whimper after whimper tore from the back of her throat.

Just when she thought it would ease down, another wave of pain tore through her weakened body and her back arched off the chair.

"Make it stop, please!" She sobbed, tears streaming from her eyes. She felt Kakuzu stand, and he let go of her left hand. But then something soft descended on her lips.

The pain seemed to still suddenly, like a storm out on the sea. One minute it was there, waves raging and thunder clapping, and then it was just...gone, and the sea was calm and even.

It was then Mew registered that Kakuzu was kissing her. His lips were firm against hers, and warm, and she relaxed in the chair, moving her left hand up to tangle itself in his hair and pull him deeper into the kiss. Another sudden but small spike of pain caused her to jump, and she instinctively bit down on Kakuzu's lower lip. He growled deeply and pushed her back into the chair more, biting her own lip roughly in return. They parted, sucking in deep gulps of air.  
Mew fumbled and stuttered, startled, her face flushed.

"Y-y-y-you kissed me..." She trailed off, touching her fingers to her lips tentatively, smiling slightly. Her eyes met Kakuzu's unmasked face. He was staring at her wordlessly, astonished at his own actions. While he was startled, Mew took advantage and pulled him in for another one. It didn't take him time to respond at all. He pulled her lower lip with his teeth and she moaned silently. Kakuzu smirked with pride.

"Well you kissed me a year ago..." He muttered against her lips.

Mews' eyes widened and she pulled away, her hands moving to his (very nice) chest, "Y-you remember!" She wailed, her face flushing again. Her hands moved to cover her reddened face, the burn on her right hand a forgotten hinderance.

"How could I ever forget?" He muttered, and picked her up off the chair, causing her to wrap her arms around his neck. He decided her prefered the warmth of Mew in his arms compared to the cold weight of money bags, and soon he was moving in for another mind-blowing kiss.

For now, they were in each other's paradise. Money was forgotten, illness was forgotten, and that god damn salve was forgotten.

But, Kakuzu promised to himself, he _would_ save Mew.

* * *

**So that is, as they say, is that! This turned out longer than I expected it to, so I had to cut the ending short. I hope you liked it, nonetheless! Like I said at the beginning, I am open to one-shot trades at the minute, sp please message me on here, review here or message me on Quizilla (animeangel0987) for more info! I haven't got any more trades lined up now, so it will be a quick release!**


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